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Golf Glossary:
Terms, Slang & Games Explained
From birdies and bogeys to skins, presses and snowmen. Golf's terminology explained without the clubhouse lecture.
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B
- Best ScoreGames and formats
An individual game where everyone plays for the same amount and the best score for the round takes it, net or gross, or the top two or three finishers split it.
It isn't best ball. Best ball, or Four-Ball, is a team format where a side counts its better score on each hole. Best Score compares each player's own total.
Example Four players at $10 each, played net. The low net score, a 70, takes $10 from each of the other three and finishes $30 up. Split two ways, the top two each finish $10 up and the other two $10 down.
Reviewed
- Bingo Bango BongoGames and formats
A points game with three points on every hole: one for the first ball on the green (bingo), one for the closest to the pin once every ball is on (bango), and one for the first ball in the hole (bongo).
Example Eighteen holes hold 54 points. The 22-handicapper who lays up short of the green on the 7th still plays first from there, so bingo is theirs to lose, which is why the game suits a group with a 6 and a 22 in it.
House rules Groups decide whether the fringe counts as on the green. Most keep strict order of play, farthest from the hole first, so the points go to the right player.
Related Skins
- Read the Bingo Bango Bongo guide
- Read “Bingo Bango Bongo keeps the 22-handicap interested”
- Browse the games GoLo scores
Reviewed
- BirdieScoring
A score one stroke under par on a hole.
Example A 3 on a par 4, or a 4 on a par 5. With a handicap stroke on the hole, a gross par can be a net birdie.
Reviewed
- BogeyScoring
A score one stroke over par on a hole.
In older British usage, bogey was the expected score for a hole, close to what par means now.
Example A 5 on a par 4, or a 4 on a par 3.
Related Double Bogey, Par
Reviewed
- Breakfast BallSlang and golf culture
A mulligan on the first tee only, by group agreement, for the player who arrived with no time to warm up.
Example Your first drive of the day hits a tree twenty yards out. Your group allows a breakfast ball, so you hit another.
Handicapping It's a mulligan by another name, so the same posting rule applies: a round that deliberately ignores a Rule generally isn't acceptable for handicap (Rules of Handicapping 2.1b).
Related Mulligan
Reviewed
- BunkerCourse, rules and etiquette
A specially prepared area of sand, often a hollow where turf or soil was removed. Its lip, walls and faces, and any grass growing inside its edge, aren't part of it.
Example In a greenside bunker you can't rest your club on the sand right behind the ball before you play.
Rules of Golf The Rules of Golf define a bunker, and Rule 12 covers playing from one, including when the club may touch the sand.
Related Sandy, Penalty Area
Reviewed
C
- CarryoverSide games
A prize nobody won outright on a hole, usually a skin, added to the next hole's value instead of disappearing.
Example Holes 1 to 3 are tied, so the 4th is worth four skins. At $5 a skin among four players, winning it outright takes $60.
House rules Groups decide whether ties carry at all and what happens to anything still carried after the 18th.
In GoLo GoLo shows skins and carries building hole by hole on the scoring screen and the live leaderboard.
Reviewed
- ChipShots and ball flight
A short, low shot from just off the green that spends little time in the air and most of it rolling toward the hole.
A chip rolls more than it flies; a pitch flies more than it rolls.
Example From the fringe 30 feet away, a chip lands a few feet onto the green and rolls the rest of the way.
Reviewed
- Closest to the PinSide games
A side game on a chosen par 3: the tee shot that finishes nearest the hole wins.
Example On the 12th, three of four tee shots are on the green. The one 11 feet away beats 14 and 30 feet.
House rules Some groups also require the ball to be on the green, or a par, which makes it a greenie.
In GoLo In GoLo the scorer marks the winner on each par 3 in the game, all of them or the back nine's, and the amount goes into the settle-up. No distance is recorded, a hole nobody wins pays nothing, and whether a par is needed is the group's call.
Related Greenie, Longest Drive
Reviewed
- Course HandicapHandicaps and course ratings
The number of strokes a player receives from a particular set of tees, worked out from their Handicap Index, those tees' Slope Rating and Course Rating, and par.
Course Handicap = Handicap Index × (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − par), rounded to the nearest whole number, .5 up, for the strokes a player receives. A format's allowance is applied to the unrounded figure.
Example A 12.4 Index from blue tees rated 71.8 with a Slope of 131, par 72: 12.4 × 131 ÷ 113 = 14.375, plus (71.8 − 72) = 14.175, so 14. From the whites (69.6, 122): 12.4 × 122 ÷ 113 = 13.388, minus 2.4 = 10.988, so 11.
Handicapping Rule 6.1a of the Rules of Handicapping sets out the formula.
In GoLo GoLo takes each player's Index and works out their Course Handicap for the group's tees. Everyone in a GoLo round plays one set of tees.
Related Handicap Index, Playing Handicap, Slope Rating, Course Rating
Reviewed
- Course RatingHandicaps and course ratings
The score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot from a particular set of tees in normal conditions, given to one decimal.
Example Blue tees rated 71.8 on a par 72 play slightly easier than par for a scratch golfer, so they take 0.2 of a stroke off a Course Handicap before it's rounded.
Handicapping Course Ratings come from the Course Rating System, set out in Appendix G of the Rules of Handicapping.
Related Slope Rating, Course Handicap
Reviewed
D
- Double BogeyScoring
A score two strokes over par on a hole.
Not the same as net double bogey, the handicap system's maximum for a hole, which adds any handicap strokes the player receives.
Example A 6 on a par 4, or a 5 on a par 3.
Related Bogey, Net Double Bogey, Par
Reviewed
- DriveShots and ball flight
The first shot on a par 4 or par 5, hit from the teeing area for distance, usually with a driver.
Not the same as the driver, which is the club. A tee shot with an iron on a par 3 is a tee shot, but rarely called a drive.
Example A 240-yard drive leaves about 160 yards into a 400-yard par 4.
Related Longest Drive
Reviewed
- DriverEquipment and technology
The longest club in the bag, with the biggest head and the least loft apart from the putter, used for tee shots on most par 4s and par 5s.
The driver is the club; the drive is the shot.
Example Drivers range from about 7 to 13 degrees of loft. A 7-iron usually has around 34.
Related Drive, Longest Drive
Reviewed
E
F
- FairwayCourse, rules and etiquette
The closely mown strip between the teeing area and the green, where the ball sits up best for the next shot.
The Rules don't treat it separately: the fairway and the rough are both part of the general area.
Example A drive that finishes in the fairway on a 400-yard par 4 usually leaves a clean lie for the approach.
Related Rough, Teeing Area, Longest Drive
Reviewed
- Four-BallGames and formats
A partnership format where each player plays their own ball and the side counts the better of its two scores on each hole. It can be played as match play or stroke play.
Usually called best ball, though golfers also use best ball loosely for other team games. In handicap play, a percentage allowance is common, so partners don't get their full strokes.
Example On a par 4 you make a 5 and your partner makes a 4. Your side's score for the hole is 4.
Rules of Golf The Rules of Golf define Four-Ball and cover it in Rule 23.
Related Best Score, Foursomes, Match Play, Scramble
Reviewed
- FoursomesGames and formats
A partnership format where two players play one ball, taking turns: one tees off on the odd-numbered holes, the other on the even, and they alternate strokes until the ball is holed.
Also called alternate shot. It isn't the same as a foursome, which is just a group of four players. In greensomes and Chapman, both partners tee off before the alternating starts.
Example You drive on the 1st, your partner plays the second shot and you play the third. On the 2nd your partner drives.
Rules of Golf The Rules of Golf define Foursomes and cover it in Rule 22.
Related Four-Ball, Scramble, Match Play
Reviewed
G
- GimmeSlang and golf culture
A short putt the other players agree to count as holed without it being played.
Example Your ball stops eighteen inches from the hole and your opponent says to pick it up: you count one more stroke and move on.
Rules of Golf In match play an opponent can concede your next stroke (Rule 3.2b). In regular stroke play you must hole out on every hole (Rule 3.3c). For handicap posting, a ball left within five feet on the green counts as one more stroke (Rules of Handicapping 3.3).
Related Putt, Match Play
Reviewed
- GreenieSide games
A side point for the tee shot closest to the hole on a par 3. Most groups only pay it if the ball is on the green, and many also require a par or better.
Example On the 7th your tee shot stops eight feet away and you two-putt for par: that's the greenie. Hit it closer and make bogey, and in most groups nobody gets it.
House rules Groups differ on whether the par is required, whether the fringe counts and whether an unclaimed greenie carries to the next par 3.
Related Closest to the Pin, Junk, Sandy
Reviewed
- Gross ScoreScoring
The actual number of strokes taken, penalty strokes included, before any handicap strokes are deducted.
Example Eighty-eight strokes over eighteen holes is a gross 88.
Related Net Score, Stroke Play
Reviewed
H
- Handicap AllowanceHandicaps and course ratings
The percentage of a Course Handicap a player gets in a particular format, set so players of different handicaps have a fair chance. The Rules of Handicapping recommend one for every format; some, like singles match play, are 100%.
Example The recommended allowances include 95% for individual stroke play, 85% for four-ball stroke play, 100% for individual match play and 90% for four-ball match play.
Handicapping Appendix C of the Rules of Handicapping lists the recommended allowances; the Committee or the group can set others.
In GoLo GoLo gives every player their full Course Handicap. It applies no percentage, except a scramble's team handicap.
Related Playing Handicap, Course Handicap, Four-Ball, Scramble
Reviewed
- Handicap IndexHandicaps and course ratings
A number, to one decimal, that measures a golfer's demonstrated ability on a course of standard difficulty. It's worked out from the best 8 of the player's most recent 20 score differentials, and it travels with them from course to course.
Example A golfer whose best eight differentials out of their last twenty average 12.4 carries a 12.4 Handicap Index. Nobody receives 12.4 strokes: the Course Handicap turns it into strokes.
Handicapping Rule 5.2 of the Rules of Handicapping sets out the calculation. The index is updated the day after each new score is posted (Rule 5.4).
Related Course Handicap, Score Differential
Reviewed
- Handicap StrokeHandicaps and course ratings
A stroke taken off a player's score on a particular hole because of their handicap, placed by the scorecard's stroke index.
Example With a stroke on stroke index 3, a bogey 5 counts as a net 4: it halves the hole against an opponent's par 4 with no stroke.
Handicapping In match play, the Rules of Handicapping have the lowest Playing Handicap play off zero and everyone else receive the difference (Appendix C).
In GoLo GoLo places strokes by the card's stroke index and gives every player their full Course Handicap; it doesn't play anyone off the low man.
Related Stroke Index, Course Handicap, Playing Handicap
Reviewed
J
- JunkSide games
The small side points a group plays for on top of its main game, such as greenies, sandies and birdies, each worth an agreed amount.
Example At $1 a point, a round with a greenie, a sandy and a birdie is $3 from each of the other players before the main game is counted.
House rules Every group keeps its own list of what counts. Agree it before the first tee, and total it with the main game at the end.
Related Greenie, Sandy, Settle-up
Reviewed
L
- Longest DriveSide games
A side game on a chosen hole: the longest tee shot that finishes in the fairway wins.
Example On the par-5 9th, a 260-yard drive in the rough loses to a 240-yard drive in the fairway.
House rules Many groups only count a drive that finishes in the fairway; some allow the first cut.
In GoLo GoLo scores Longest Drive as a game, but it doesn't record a measured distance.
Related Closest to the Pin
Reviewed
M
- Match PlayGames and formats
A form of play where a player or side plays another hole by hole. The lower score wins the hole, and the match is won when one side is ahead by more holes than are left to play.
Example A triple bogey loses you one hole, the same as losing it by one stroke. Three up with two to play, the match is over.
Rules of Golf Rule 3.2 of the Rules of Golf covers match play: how a hole and the match are won (3.2a) and conceding a stroke, a hole or the match (3.2b).
Related Nassau, Four-Ball, Foursomes
Reviewed
- MulliganSlang and golf culture
Replaying a bad shot without counting it, by agreement within a group. Informal, and not allowed under the Rules of Golf.
Example Your opening drive goes out of bounds, your group allows one mulligan a side, and you hit again as if the first never happened.
Handicapping A mulligan ignores the Rules of Golf. Under Rule 2.1b of the Rules of Handicapping, a round where a player deliberately ignores a Rule generally isn't acceptable for posting.
Related Breakfast Ball
Reviewed
N
- NassauGames and formats
Three matches in one round, each for the same amount: the front nine, the back nine and the full eighteen. Most groups play each as match play, counted in holes won rather than strokes.
Example In a $5 Nassau you win the front 2 up, halve the back and win the eighteen 2 up: $10 for the day. Lose all three and you're down $15, the most a straight Nassau can cost.
House rules No governing body writes rules for the Nassau. Whether strokes count, whether presses are allowed and when the eighteen closes are up to the group.
In GoLo Over 18 holes GoLo plays the three matches and nets them into the settle-up; over nine it plays one. Its Nassau takes no presses; presses are on the Overall Match game.
Related Match Play, Press
Reviewed
- Net Double BogeyHandicaps and course ratings
The most a player with a Handicap Index can count on a hole for handicap purposes: par plus two, plus any strokes their full Course Handicap gives them on that hole.
Example On a par 4 where you receive one stroke, net double bogey is 4 + 2 + 1 = 7. Take a 9 and it goes on your handicap record as a 7.
Handicapping Rule 3.1b of the Rules of Handicapping sets it. A player without an Index yet is capped at par plus 5 (Rule 3.1a). Many groups also use net double bogey as the most anyone can take on a hole in their games.
Related Score Differential, Handicap Stroke
Reviewed
- Net ScoreScoring
A score after handicap strokes are deducted: the gross score minus the strokes the player receives.
Example A gross 88 with a Course Handicap of 14 is a net 74. On a single hole, a 5 with one stroke is a net 4.
Related Gross Score, Handicap Stroke, Course Handicap
Reviewed
P
- ParScoring
The score a scratch golfer is expected to make on a hole, allowing two putts: usually 3, 4 or 5, and mostly set by the hole's length. A course's par is the total of its holes, often 70 to 72.
Example On a 168-yard par 3, three strokes is par. Two is a birdie and four is a bogey.
Related Birdie, Bogey, Stroke Play
Reviewed
- Penalty AreaCourse, rules and etiquette
Water, or another area the course marks with red or yellow stakes or lines, where a player can play the ball as it lies or take relief for one penalty stroke.
Before 2019 the Rules called these water hazards and lateral water hazards. Red marks allow more relief options than yellow.
Example Your tee shot finds the pond on the 9th. You take one of the relief options for one penalty stroke, so your next shot is your third.
Rules of Golf The Rules of Golf define a penalty area, and Rule 17 sets out the relief options.
Related Bunker
Reviewed
- PitchShots and ball flight
A short, high shot that carries most of the way to its target and stops quickly, often used when rough, sand or water is between the ball and the hole.
Example Forty yards out with a bunker in front of the flag, a pitch flies the sand and stops near the hole.
Related Chip
Reviewed
- Playing HandicapHandicaps and course ratings
The strokes a player actually receives in a particular format: their Course Handicap with that format's handicap allowance applied.
Example In four-ball stroke play, with the recommended 85% allowance, the 12.4 Index from the blue tees plays off 12: the unrounded Course Handicap is 14.175, and 14.175 × 0.85 = 12.05, rounded to 12.
Handicapping Rule 6.2a of the Rules of Handicapping applies the allowance to the unrounded Course Handicap, then rounds. Appendix C lists the recommended allowances.
Related Course Handicap, Handicap Allowance, Four-Ball
Reviewed
- PressSide games
A new match started while an existing one is still running, usually called by the side that is behind. It covers only the holes left, and the original match carries on underneath it.
Example In a $10 back nine you're two down with four to play. You press on the 15th tee: holes 15 to 18 are a second $10 match, and the back nine carries on as a match of its own.
House rules Groups decide whether presses are called or automatic, when they can be called, and whether a press can itself be pressed.
In GoLo On GoLo's Overall Match game a press can start once a side is two or more down, at two, three or four times the amount, with up to two live at once. GoLo doesn't open presses automatically, and its Nassau takes none.
Related Re-press, Nassau, Match Play
Reviewed
- PushSide games
A tie that leaves things where they were: nobody wins and nobody owes. In a game that carries, the value rolls on to the next hole.
Push is the side-game word. In match play the Rules of Golf say a hole is tied, or halved.
Example In a $5 Nassau the eighteen-hole match finishes all square. That match is a push, and nobody pays for it.
Related Carryover, Skins, Match Play
Reviewed
R
- Re-pressSide games
A press on a press: a new match started by the side that has fallen behind in a press that is already running.
Example You press on the 14th tee, then lose the 14th and 16th and halve the 15th. Two down in the press, you press it on the 17th tee: a third match for the 17th and 18th, on top of the other two.
House rules Some groups allow it, some cap the number of presses, and some never allow a press on a press. Agree before the first tee.
In GoLo GoLo doesn't press a press. On its Overall Match game a second press also needs a side two or more down in the main match.
Reviewed
- RoughCourse, rules and etiquette
The longer grass beside the fairway, where the ball can sit down and the next shot is harder to control.
Like the fairway, it's part of the general area under the Rules, so no special rules apply there.
Example From thick rough 150 yards out, grass gets between the club and the ball, so it comes out with less spin and is harder to stop. Many players aim for the middle of the green or lay up.
Related Fairway
Reviewed
S
- SandySide games
A side point for getting up and down from a bunker: out of the sand and into the hole in two strokes, usually for par or better.
Example You find the greenside bunker on a par 4, splash out to four feet and hole the putt for 4. That's a sandy.
House rules Some groups pay a sandy for any up-and-down from sand, whatever the score.
Reviewed
- Score DifferentialHandicaps and course ratings
The value one round contributes to a Handicap Index: how far the adjusted gross score was above the Course Rating, scaled to standard difficulty by the Slope Rating.
Score Differential = (adjusted gross score − Course Rating) × 113 ÷ Slope Rating, with any playing conditions adjustment applied, to one decimal.
Example An adjusted 88 from tees rated 71.8 with a Slope of 131: (88 − 71.8) × 113 ÷ 131 = 13.97, recorded as 14.0.
Handicapping Rule 5.1 of the Rules of Handicapping sets out the calculation.
Related Handicap Index, Course Rating, Slope Rating, Net Double Bogey
Reviewed
- ScrambleGames and formats
A team format where everyone tees off, the team picks the best shot, and every player plays the next shot from there, until the ball is holed. Each team records one score per hole.
Example Four players drive; the team takes the one in the middle of the fairway. All four hit approaches from that spot, the team picks the best again, and so on.
Handicapping A scramble team's handicap is usually a set percentage of each player's Course Handicap, and the percentages depend on the team's size.
In GoLo GoLo scores a scramble for up to 12 players in 2 to 6 teams, with team handicaps from the WHS percentages, played gross, or set by the organizer. It doesn't count Texas scramble drives and doesn't score a shamble.
Reviewed
- Settle-upSide games
Squaring up after the round: working out what each player is up or down across every game, then who owes whom.
Example Four players, three games. Netted, Mike is $25 up, Tom $5 up, Jess $10 down and Sarah $20 down. Three payments square it: Sarah pays Mike $20, Jess pays Mike $5 and Tom $5.
In GoLo GoLo nets every game into one number per player and lists who owes whom for the group. Each round settles on its own, and GoLo never holds, moves or processes money.
- Read “Who pays first? The unwritten rules of settling up”
- Read “Building the settle-up screen”
- See a round in GoLo, first tee to settle-up
Reviewed
- SkinsGames and formats
A game where every hole is worth a skin, won only by the player with the lowest score outright. If the low score is tied, nobody wins the hole, and in most groups the skin carries to the next one.
Example Four players at $5 a skin tie holes 1 to 3. Your birdie on the 4th takes four skins: $60, $20 from each of the other three.
House rules Groups set whether ties carry, whether skins are gross or net, and what happens to skins still carried after the 18th.
In GoLo GoLo builds skins and carries hole by hole on the scoring screen and the live leaderboard, and nets them into the settle-up with the round's other games.
Related Carryover, Push, Nassau, Best Score
Reviewed
- SliceShots and ball flight
A shot that curves sharply in the air, usually by accident: left to right for a right-handed golfer, right to left for a left-handed one.
A gentle, controlled curve the same way is a fade. A slice is the same curve, bigger and unplanned.
Example A right-hander aims down the middle and the ball finishes in the trees on the right.
Related Drive
Reviewed
- Slope RatingHandicaps and course ratings
A number from 55 to 155 that shows how much harder a set of tees plays for a bogey golfer than for a scratch golfer. 113 is the standard.
Example From tees with a Slope of 131, a 12.4 Index is worth 14.4 strokes before the Course Rating adjustment; from tees rated 113, it would be worth 12.4.
Handicapping Slope Rating is defined in the Rules of Handicapping and set through the Course Rating System (Appendix G).
Related Course Rating, Course Handicap
Reviewed
- SnowmanSlang and golf culture
A score of 8 on a hole, named for the shape of the number.
Example An 8 on a par 4 is a quadruple bogey; on a par 5 it's a triple. Either way, it's a snowman.
Related Double Bogey, Par
Reviewed
- StablefordGames and formats
A scoring format that awards points for each hole's score against par instead of counting strokes. In the standard version, a bogey earns 1, a par 2, a birdie 3 and an eagle 4. Most points wins.
Example A par, a bogey and a double bogey on three holes is 2 + 1 + 0: three points. A blow-up hole costs zero points, never more.
Rules of Golf Rule 21.1 of the Rules of Golf sets out Stableford and its standard points.
Related Match Play
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- Stroke IndexHandicaps and course ratings
The ranking printed on the scorecard that orders a course's holes from 1 to 18 by where handicap strokes are received first.
Example A Course Handicap of 14 gets one stroke on the holes indexed 1 to 14. A 22 gets two strokes on 1 to 4 and one on the other fourteen.
Handicapping Appendix E of the Rules of Handicapping sets out how clubs allocate the stroke index.
Related Handicap Stroke, Course Handicap
Reviewed
- Stroke PlayScoring
A form of play where every stroke counts, and the lowest total for the round wins.
Example A triple bogey on the 6th costs three strokes against par in stroke play. In match play it would only lose one hole.
Rules of Golf Rule 3.3 of the Rules of Golf covers stroke play.
Related Match Play, Gross Score, Stableford
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T
- Teeing AreaCourse, rules and etiquette
The area a hole is played from: between the two tee markers and up to two club-lengths behind them.
Most golfers call it the tee box. The Rules called it the teeing ground until 2019.
Example Teeing up six inches ahead of the markers is outside the teeing area. In stroke play that's a two-stroke penalty and the shot is replayed.
Rules of Golf The Rules of Golf define the teeing area. Rule 6.1b sets the penalty for playing from outside it, and Rule 6.2 covers playing from it.
Reviewed
W
- WolfGames and formats
A four-player game where one player, the wolf, rotates each hole and either picks a partner for that hole or plays alone against the other three for a bigger share of the points.
Example On the 5th the wolf passes on all three drives and goes alone. A birdie that beats the other three's best score wins double the usual points.
House rules Groups differ on whether the wolf tees off first or last, what going alone is worth, and who is wolf on the 17th and 18th.
Related Four-Ball, Match Play
- Read the Wolf guide
- Read “Wolf, for foursomes that can’t agree on anything”
- Browse the games GoLo scores
Reviewed
- Worm BurnerSlang and golf culture
A shot that barely gets off the ground and skims along the grass.
Example A worm burner off the tee can still run 150 yards on a firm fairway. It just won't look good doing it.
Related Drive
Reviewed
KEEP READING
- The gamesSkins, Nassau, Wolf, Best Score and the rest: how each one is played and scored.BROWSE THE GAMES →
- BlogPressing etiquette, carryover math, handicaps and settling up, worked through with real numbers.READ THE BLOG →
- How it worksA round in GoLo from first tee to settle-up, one screen at a time.SEE A ROUND →
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